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."Before he could reach the anteroom, Tortha was bumped aside by the stockyfigure of Barton Shar, Deputy Inspector in charge of Stores and Equipment, hisface beet red and all but puffing steam.Tortha used his own not inconsiderable girth to bump back and Barton turned,with fist raised, until he recognized his former boss."Oh! Sorry, Chief."Barton had once thought he was on the fast track to being the new ParatimePage 22ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlChief, but Tortha had gradually shunted the bean-counter aside for Verkan, whowas as good in the field as he was in the office maybe better.Tortha hadnever liked nor trusted Barton Shar, and had assigned him to a place where hethought he couldn't do any harm Stores and Equipment.Somehow Barton, over thepast century, had managed to turn it into a rather large fiefdom."In a rush, Inspector? What's the emergency? I don't see any Code Yellow orRed signal?""No emergency.I was just in to ask Verkan for a budget increase, and heturned me down flat! With all the credits flying down the exhaust hole withhis Kalvan Project, I'm forced to make appropriation cutbacks in otherSectors.It's not fair!"Fair, thought Tortha, now there's a novel view of the world.He'd stopped believing in fair about the time he passed his sixth birthday,when his father had given his younger sister his favorite stuffed animalGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlbecause she could wail louder than him.In retrospect, it was a valuablelesson: there was nothing fair about the universe; indifferent and inexorablecertainly, but fair never!Maybe he'd made a mistake in not dealing with Barton a long time ago, but asChief in charge of a hundred thousand Paracops, it was tough to get to knoweven the men you depended upon.Barton's face tightened up as if he realized he'd said too much.He gaveTortha a sticky sweet smile and said, "How's life on your plantation? Enjoyingyour own time-line?"That was another thing Tortha hadn't liked about Barton; he was an inveteraterump sniffer.He also spent a lot of his time in the company of politicians."It's been different."Barton stiffened at the rebuke, spun on his heels and left the room.Same old Barton, he thought.He'd fawn over you at the drop of a hat, but ifyou didn't preen he took it personally.I really should have fired him a long time ago; saved Verkan the trouble!As he entered the room, the secretary was already on the screen, informingChief Verkan Vall about his visitor.A familiar but slightly distracted voicereplied, but there was no picture with it."Tell the ex-Chief to come in, ifhe can entertain himself for a minute or two."The secretary was red in the face as he turned to face his former Chief, butTortha only chuckled."Sounds as if the Chief has the right spirit.Finish the job, even if theworld's about to fall down on your head."The office hadn't changed much since Tortha Karf last saw it, a ten-day afterleaving it to Verkan Vall.Most of the movable furniture had been his private property and had gone withhim; most of the fixed furniture, except for the horseshoe-shaped desk, wasdata-processing equipment intended to resist any effort to move it withoutusing chemical explosives.Verkan Vall was seated at the Chief's desk, apparently watching a visiscreenwith one eye and a keyboard with the other.Both arms of the desk had acquiredthe inevitable litter of papers, photographs, discs, data wafers, charts andfilmspools.Without raising his eyes from his work, Verkan waved him to achair that gave him a clear view of the whole office and one of thetransparent walls.A luxurious couch squatted by the rear wall; it was made from carved dark woodwith leather upholstery and had a Fourth Level Europo-American look to it.Itwas hidden from the outside by an obviouslyIndo-Turanian ornamental screen of ivory plaques set in lacquered bronzeframes.Page 23ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlAnother artificial alcove held several overstuffed reclining chairs, probablyfrom Fourth LevelJulian-Roman or Macedonian Empire Sector.They looked comfortable, althoughTortha Karf wasn't prepared to be as charitable about the colors.Above thechairs several elaborately woven decorative hangings draped a carved woodenscreen.He recognized the work of Vall's adopted sister-in-lawZinganna, who'd been raised from prole to citizen because of her help inbreaking up the Wizard Traders.(Or at least in breaking it up as much as it had been broken up, Tortha addedby way of a mental footnote.) She now had a happy marriage to Paratime PoliceInspector Kostran Galth and a growing reputation as an artist
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